Infatuation
by Jet-kun
Summary: The effects of Love are double-sided. It can heal, and it can kill. Rated R for adult and sexual themes as well as language. last uploaded: Prologue
1. captured

chapter zero: candlelight

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**  
Act One.**

**It was unavoidably dark outside. No moon hung over to illuminate its watchers with its silver glow, no stars were in sight to provide the superstitious, and sometimes the heart-broken, with any speck of hope. It was so perpetually black, even the few lantern posts that resided around town didn't provide nearly enough warmth for any night-time prowlers.**

**Not that warmth was needed. Not in this night.**

**A young blue-haired girl waits at the doorstep to a house. His house. Judging from the way she stood stiffly at the front door, she seemed a little bit apprehensive to even be there.**

**A light flickers on from a window above. One blonde young man sputters into view, his face briefly illuminated by the light of the candle in his hand. He opens the window, says something to the girl, and she replies with an unsteady voice.**

**No, he wouldn't get to see her. Not today. Not ever.**

**The shadowed figure rushes from his position and grabs her from behind—one hand clamped over her mouth, the other around her chest. Completely taken off-guard, she tries to reach for her weapon, but is twisted around too forcefully and her grip is too loose. It clatters to the floor, and as she is dragged to the encompassing darkness, the girl is allowed only a millisecond to desperately call out his name.**

**And then silence.**

* * *

"Isaac?"

The Venus Adept's blood nearly froze. As it was the middle of the night, Isaac had stumbled out of bed while in his simple brown pajamas, and had grumbled a few expletives when he heard a few rocks pelting his window. _God damn it, if this is Ivan with one of his stupid harebrained schemes to make Felix look bad again_, he thought darkly, _I'm going to take my Gaia Blade and shove it up his ass._

Below him, at his doorstep, the person was anything but Ivan.

"Mia…?" he said, hope and shock filtering in his voice.

The Mercury Adept only nodded shyly. She was in a long, lacy white nightgown that left almost nothing to the imagination. It only served to accentuate her willowy and smooth shoulders, as well as draw attention to her curves and the allure of her half-exposed legs. Only a pair of thin straps had held it together, and the piece of clothing had ended far above her knees. Thankfully (or not?), she wore a sky blue cloak to cover most of everything her sleeping attire didn't.

"I… I couldn't sleep. I've wanted to see you again, but…"

Isaac rose up a hand to quiet her. He didn't want to hear the words that were going to leave her lips. Not when he had a clue as to what they were anyway. "You… you can come in, if you want," he said, trying to sound as certain as possible.

"Were you asleep?" Mia lowered her head. "Sorry, I shouldn't have—"

"No." He started to regain a tad more confidence. "You… you can come in and stay. We have a lot to… talk about."

He does?

The priestess looked up into his eyes. Clear brown eyes, which had shaken with uncertainty, fear, and a tad bit of hurt, still reflected the truth to her. And, just maybe, those feelings could have mistaken her for her own eyes. _Yes… he does_, she concluded. She put up a tired smile. "We do," she finally said quietly.

He nodded, trying his best to create a smile of his own. "I'll be down in a second, then."

The window was shut and the candle light faded from view. Mia took a deep breath, and then let it all out in a sigh. _So much to talk about. So much to amend. Could we possibly try to fix it all…? Is he willing to listen to me…?_

A twig snapped from behind her, interrupting her thoughts.

"What in Mercury—"

* * *

"_Isaac_—!"

As if the clank of the familiar weapon was not enough to alert the young Venus Adept's senses, he managed to catch the final plea of his name, just three seconds away from reaching the door.

"Mia?"

However, once he opened it, he was greeted only with the sight of a medium-sized mace. Faintly shimmering with its own internal light, it had been carelessly dropped onto the rough earth like a toy. Its owner was not present.

Isaac rushed forward, mentally cursing himself for not bringing his own weapon of choice, and picked up the mace with a harsh grip. But there was no enemy present in his sights, no more cries and pleas for the voice he had longed to hear for weeks on end.

To confirm his fears, the young man looked near the base of the Crystal Mace's shaft. There was only a name that was engraved there, a name that had and was still on his mind forever.

"**MIA**!!"

* * *

_Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it._

Isaac of Vale had long dropped to his knees, as well as the mace near his feet, and pounded the ground for what seemed to be the tenth time. Did she just up and walk away and simply left one of her things as a parting gift? But why would she scream then? Who the hell would possibly try to take her? So many possibilities ran through the troubled Adept's mind, and there was too much panic to even think of considering them all.

_Someone would pay. Someone would pay dearly for this._

Though his senses were dulled by fear and frustration, they still caught movement to Isaac's right. He gripped the mace with righteous fury and was prepared to swing when a soft and familiar voice stopped him.

"Isaac…? I heard screaming. Did something happen?"

"Jenna?" His tension faded a few levels, though it hadn't completely subsided. "What are you doing here?"

From the side of the house, the normally fiery Mars Adept approached him cautiously. She was only dressed in her long white nightgown, which only streamed down an inch past her smooth thighs. Her reddish-brown hair, normally tied back in its signature ponytail, was left unrestricted and flowing free down the front and back of her body. There was a hint of redness in her eyes, as if she had been crying. Even then, she could see Isaac's uneasiness as clear as day. "I came to help," she started to say meekly, but then lowered her gaze to the weapon in his right hand. "Why are you holding Mia's weapon?"

The fear started to resurface in his expression. "Someone took Mia," he sighed. "It was so fast, too… one minute I was talking to her from out my room window, the next I hear her scream from the front. I… I was…"

"Calm down, will you?" Slender, slightly callused hands settled on the Venus Adept's shoulders. Isaac couldn't help but look up at her in surprise. "Whoever kidnapped Mia shouldn't have gone far. There's only way out of Vale, remember? Should I go and wake the others?"

"No." Isaac started to stand, yet for some reason, started to feel a tad cold once Jenna's hands left him. "Let's hurry and get to the entrance to town before he does. We can't risk losing sight of him."

The golden-haired warrior thought he saw hesitation in her eyes, but it disappeared as swiftly as she blinked. "Mm. Let's go then!"

* * *

From atop one of the trees that surrounded the village, the figure chuckled as the pair had left his sight. Its grim smile remained hidden under the cover of the night.

Its beady brown eyes then shifted to its prey at the base of the tree. Gagged and blindfolded, Mia was attempting to struggle against the ropes that bound her hands and feet together. The kidnapped snarled and leapt down, then hitched the girl up on one of its broad shoulders.

"Soon, my precious," he said dangerously to himself, "you will be all mine."

Taking the captive with it, the figure disappeared into the safety of the wood.

* * *

Author's Note: This is ONLY the prologue, people. I'm warning you ahead of time, what I have planned is not pretty and definitely for the more mature audience. You can probably guess the couplings, but... Well, you can find out for yourselves, can't you?

Some formatting errors have kind of screwed up the flow of this fic (paragraph spacing, for example), sorry if it disrupts your reading. Stupid QuickEdit.


	2. remembrance

**_Chapter 1 – Remembrance_**

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****

**Pre-notes: Thanks to Archer Cross for warning me of the already taken title. Though the title's still in beta stages, I don't really have anything definite in mind, so it might change from time to time.**

**Four years ago.**

This was the third time after the boulder incident.

Upon the only unobstructed bridge in town, two young teenagers were huddled beyond the view of the stone railings, their bodies slightly damp from the oncoming rain. It had not stopped raining beyond that life-changing day, which hadn't helped with their moods any. 'They' being a reddish-purple haired little girl, with her head sitting snugly in the shoulder of the golden-haired boy next to her.

"Are you going to be ok now?"

For many times before, she slightly raised her head up at him, probing his crystalline blue eyes with rapturous brown. For many times before, she opened her mouth as if to say, _Yes I'll be ok, I'll be fine, I don't need to hug you so tightly as I've done for days…_

And for many times, she just couldn't go through with the lie, and instead buried her head into his body again, shaking her head softly in response.

Isaac draped the faded poncho over the two of them more tightly, continuing his vigil over the vulnerable little girl that still clung onto him. Ever since he started doing this, he has been losing track of the time over how long they had been sitting there… not that he minded at all. Various damp spots were all over his blue shirt. Whether it was because of the rain, or from his dear friend's crying, or both, it was not known. He didn't mind that either… because to him, the only important thing in his mind was the Jenna within his embrace.

Not Jenna, the firebrand that liked to set fire to Garet's hair on occasion. Not Jenna, the quick-witted and free-spirited girl that was nearly at the top of her class in school. Not Jenna, the cute girl that had to hit Felix on occasion because he constantly scared every guy that came within ten feet of her.

This was simply Jenna, the lonely little girl without any true family anymore.

Frankly, Isaac had no clue why he didn't want to let go. The first time that she had cried in front of his presence, he was indeed scared; because ever since he had lost his father to the storm, the Adept in training was fearful just like she was. The feelings—her feelings and his—quickly became all-too-familiar to him, and ever since she hugged him for the first time like this… Isaac completely forgot the fear.

He loved the warmth. He didn't want to let go. If he let go, would she be washed away too?

Without even thinking about it, the blonde youth gently cupped Jenna's chin in one hand, forcing her to look directly into him.

_Don't leave too._

As if responding to the thought, she leaned up and pressed her lips against his gently. How long had the feeling lasted? Five seconds, ten, fifteen? Isaac nearly went dizzy with the newfound emotions rising from inside him. For a brief moment, his eyes widened upon the touch. _Was that her answer?_

Jenna looked at him, the hope in her eyes reflecting upon his. For a full minute, they simply stared at each other, both awaiting some sign from the other. The purple-haired girl was starting to worry. _Does he… does he still want me here?_

Right when she was about to blink, she felt Isaac's callused hands wrap around her slender frame tighter, and her lips tasted the warmth emanating from his. Jenna's hands curled around his face, further inviting him deeper.

And in that moment, she forgot the pain of having no family.

* * *

The overhead storm continued to pour, giving no regard to the mortals below its realm of authority. The superstitious assumed that something terrible at happened; the empathic thought that Nature simply felt like crying every once in awhile, because it wasn't good to hold back emotions. The force of nature cared not for these guesses, however, neither did it care for the comfortable silence now around two rain-soaked teenagers.

A silence, broken for a brief instant, with the words, "I will never leave you."

* * *

**Two years afterward.**

The hot summer's daylight beat down on Vale harder than ever. But Vale, being so used to its somewhat chaotic weather patterns (after all, it was near the central hub of all of the Elements of the world), were already prepared with makeshift lemonade stands, suntan lotion, and some good Psynergy.

Too bad only one person could provide for the latter.

Mia wiped the sweat from her brow, eying Dora's latest sewing "masterpiece." Instead of her traditional white robes and mantle, Isaac's mother had created a less encumbering version of her clothing, except that the robes were sleeveless, the cloak had been removed, and it ended (in the Mercury Adept's opinion, anyway) too high above her knees. As the only Adept around town that specialized in water, she was "asked" by the rest of the town to provide them with glasses of fresh water (though begging would be a more appropriate word, in Garet's case). She objected at first, stating that the village was stationed on a _river_, for Iris's sake, but ever since rumors spread around that "someone" began to piss in the river on a daily basis, Mia vehemently agreed.

As she walked across town, the priestess frequently cast nervous glances around her. She was receiving more stares than usual, particularly from the opposite sex—never in her lifetime had she considered herself the object of _anyone's_ desires. Well… except one.

'_At least Isaac seems to like it_,' Mia thought to herself, hiding a small smile and a blush on her countenance.

* * *

In truth, the growing relationship between the two Adepts was, to their comrades Garet and Ivan's eyes, inevitable. The two couldn't ignore how slowly, but surely, Isaac and Mia's glances toward each other lasted a little bit too long, how they paid a little bit too much attention to each other during battle (not that that ever became life-threatening… with the exception of their toughest opponent, the Fusion Dragon); the Mars and Mercury Adepts even caught the two staring into the ocean together, holding hands while on their first long voyage on the ancient Lemurian ship. After the balance of Elements had been restored to Weyard, Isaac had, very shyly, asked Mia if she had anywhere else to go, and if not, she could always stay in Vale for a while.

"R-really?" Mia stuttered, her face color almost matching Isaac's redness. "I'd… I'd love to stay…"

As far as they knew, no one had a problem with it. When it was announced that the two were going steady, Felix merely gave a nod of approval, muttering something about Isaac being smart enough to be with the blue-haired girl and not his sister, unlike some other stupid spiky-haired idiots… ahem. Sheba also smiled, and had nudged Mia conspiratorially and gave a wink. "Invite me to the wedding, will you?"

Garet grinned and patted Isaac on the back. "Took you long enough!" Then, following up with Sheba's remark, added, "Can I be your best man?" More blushing, more stuttering, and a small comment of Jenna: "Ridiculous. His brain still works after seventeen years."

Ivan and Picard both gave them their congratulations and well-wishes to the couple.

And Jenna?

Well… Isaac couldn't remember all too clearly what her reaction was. Was he supposed to? Something tells me that I'm forgetting something important…

"Isaac! God damn it. You're losing your concentration again."

Felix raised an eyebrow at the blonde Venus Adept as he sheepishly used Lift to bring up more wood. The two of them were perched upon the roof of Jenna and Felix's old abode, and repairs to the place had only started three days ago. Being that it was still hot and muggy outside, they had decided to keep themselves shirtless for the day. Sweat was glistening on both of the Adepts' muscles… and Felix was restraining the urge to use his to beat the other senseless.

"Sorry, Felix," he said with a smile, sliding a pack of tools toward him. "I've just been a bit distracted lately."

"Haven't we all." The brown-haired warrior shrugged and picked a hammer. "So tell me, how's the little dolphin?"

"She's fine." Isaac didn't know just where Felix gained the penchant of naming all the females he encountered after animals. It was amusing, at the very least, even if a bit eccentric. As he began to hammer down a board, he gave a sidelong glance at the serious Adept before adding, "And how's your 'golden kitty', hmm?"

Felix nearly sputtered and missed pounding his thumb by a mere centimeter. "What? What makes you think I know?"

The young man opposite of him grinned, his voice now sounding teasing. "Oh, I don't know, you two looked pretty close a few days ago at the Mars Lighthouse, when Mia and I made our intentions known…"

**Slam**. The second the hammer was forcefully set down, Isaac sensed the sudden movement from his right, and he felt his wrist being grasped painfully. Felix kept the arm lock on him, being careful to not apply enough pressure to actually injure the other Venus Adept, but at least make him very sore for awhile. "Don't. Tell. Sheba. Got it?" His tone dropped down several degrees, and Isaac shivered involuntarily.

The moment Felix let go, Isaac raised his hands up in defeat. "Alright, alright… you don't have to remind me every waking minute." He started on another board as Felix went back to his section of the roof, only saying softly, "You're serious about this, aren't you…? How you feel towards her…"

Felix didn't answer immediately. Granted, the year-long journey with his sister, Picard, and Sheba did gradually mellow down his attitude, which was once cold and serious from his prior years traveling with Saturos and Menardi. Sure, being with his only sibling, after so many years of separation, had been refreshing, but something still felt missing during his travels… until a few weeks ago.

_Isaac did well with the one he'd traveled with for more than a year. Can I do no better than him?_

"Yes," he replied quietly, after being silent for over a minute. "I don't know how or why yet. But I am."

* * *

From several feet, across the river, the aforementioned duo of young girls was watching the working young man… though they would never admit it under torture, despite the fact they were just fifty feet away.

Mia winced slightly as she witnessed Felix yell at Isaac, then the blonde sheepishly scratching his head and picking up more wood with his Psynergy. "Felix is so serious, even though there's no reason to be anymore," she commented quietly.

The blonde girl nodded slightly. Sitting on a rock, she lightly brushed from sweat from her forehead and shook her head. She was dressed in her usual attire, a white shirt and a pair of shorts with gold and brown embroidering, but she had wisely decided to leave her purple scarf back in her room. With a small and spritely frame, few would be able to tell what an ordinary girl like her had anything to do with her taller, teal-haired comrade in arms. But such was the nature of Sheba, and she liked the way she was.

"He'll never change," she replied. "But he does mean well. I can't imagine what we would've done in our adventure without him being so level-headed all the time."

"True." Mia idly ran her fingers across her glass of water, the container quickly filling up with water with only a drop of concentration of its holder. She took another sip, and then looked down at the Jupiter Adept. "So, Sheba… what do you think of life here in Vale?"

She shrugged. "Pretty boring, if you ask me. What else is there to do here? The monsters around town have rarely entered town anymore, so hunting's not really much. I just buy the groceries for Garet and the rest and," she wrinkled her nose at the next word, "cook."

"Oh." Mia repressed a shudder, remembering Sheba's last attempt at cooking anything edible; what was supposed to be chicken-soup actually turned out to be… well, some kind of gloop. "Ugh, this is even worse than my own cooked up shit," Garet had muttered back then, and received a Spark Plasma to his hair for his criticism. She placed a gentle hand upon the smaller Adept's shoulder. "Well, if you need help with cooking, I'm here for you…"

Sheba smiled tenderly at the blue-haired priestess. "I could use the help…" Then she put a finger to her lips, putting up a thoughtful expression. "You might want to assist Jenna as well. Remember last night?"

Mia shuddered upon that short memory. How could she not?

* * *

"Mmm, something smells good..."

_Whack_. "No pre-tasting, Garet."

In the kitchen, a fiery-eyed brunette was slaving over a hot stove, stirring the pot of hot soup carefully while keeping an impatient spiky-haired boy at by with a ladle. The cook sighed and batted Garet over the head again. "Now go back and wait patiently with Mia and your brother and sister. You do know what patience means, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah," Garet grumbled, ignoring the rumble of disagreement with his stomach and sauntered off. Jenna simply shook her head and went back to her latest cooking achievement. On the outside, the chicken soup that the Mars Adept had been cooking smelled simply divine, but she rather doubted that, even with months and months upon practice, that the taste had changed much. At least, that was according to her tasters. She snarled to herself, clenching the fist that was holding the ladle fiercely.

No. My soup _will_ be good, and everyone _will_ like my cooking.

With that resolve, she gathered several bowls and began to pour.

* * *

At the kitchen table, Mia and the rest of the patrons watched as Jenna expertly slid several bowls of soup toward them. Picking up her spoon, the blue-haired priestess reluctantly began to reach down toward her food, but kept a wary eye toward her food host. "T-this is chicken soup, isn't it?" she asked, trying to keep the question as innocent as possible.

"Yes." Jenna glared at her, deadpanned, and then turned toward Garet, Kay, and Aaron. "You don't believe me? Eat. Now."

_Well_, Mia tried to reason to herself, _at least it doesn't _look_ burned_. She fetched a good spoonful and then sipped it gingerly... then calmly placed her spoon back down. To Jenna's surprise, the Mercury Adept had gulped the entire spoonful down, and hadn't even so much as flinched. Well, maybe she was just simply staring straight ahead, looking a bit paler than usual, and maybe one of Mia's eyebrows twitched every ten seconds...

But at least she didn't puke.

Jenna growled at her other three recipients of her food that **were**. Garet's family all bore green faces, their heads turned over to their sides in a vain attempt to vomit out of her sight. The now-seething Adept knew, though, because of the instant putrid odor that began to fill the room.

"GARET!"

"Hey, it's not my fault that—Aieeee!"

The poor son of Vale's Mayor never doubted Jenna's strength again. As if the Dragon Fume to his hair wasn't bad enough.

_Well, until the next night anyway…_

* * *

"Yes, I ducked out of the ensuing fight just in time," Mia said.

Sheba raised a curious eyebrow at her. "So you were the only one that could stomach her cooking, huh?"

"Not really. I threw up in the bushes two minutes after I left." She shuddered… yes, _proper_ cooking training with Jenna would be a necessity… for all that wanted to live anyway. The blue-haired priestess's stomach gave a slight rumble at the thought of food. "Want to grab some lunch?"

The smaller of the two ladies shrugged. "Might as well." She waved out toward the male duo across the river. "Hey! Felix, Isaac! Want to get a bite to eat with us?"

"Huh?" Felix looked up, in mid-swing with his hammer while Isaac carefully held down a nail for the other to pound. The second that the brunette found the source of a voice, he suddenly forgot that he was holding a hammer, instead focused entirely on the sweet and innocent image before him. "O-oh! Sheba! Sure, one second—"

"OW! Damn it, Felix!" The hammer which he had accidentally dropped had made quite a bruise on Isaac's hand; the aforementioned Venus Adept glared daggers at his older kin while trying to shake his wounded hand free of the pain. Felix sweatdropped while raising his hands up in submission.

"It was an accident, I swear!"

"Like hell it was!" Isaac grasped the Lift Gem with his un-injured hand and grinned devilishly as the remaining pile of unused wooden boards floated up around him. "I'll show **you** an accident!"

The resulting chase around Jenna's damaged roof caused the watching young girl to sigh and shake their heads.

"Men…" Sheba muttered.

* * *

now.

The blonde Adept stood frozen, his state almost catatonic. They had searched everywhere around the town all night, and still found no sign of Mia or whoever had taken her away.

"Isaac?"

Her sonorous voice broke him out of his reverie. He blinked and refocused his eyes on Jenna, who held up something in full view within the lantern's light. "I found this where Mia's weapon was dropped." The Venus Adept peered closer… then let out a soft gasp as he realized what it was.

A tiny lock of blue hair.

"It's…"

"I was going to say it's probably Mia's hair… Do you know if it is?"

Isaac took the barely visible strand by two fingers, shuddering involuntarily as he did. It felt… very frosty and foreign, for some reason.

"Her hair's not this dark blue… or cold."

_Post-notes: I'm just obsessed with the first tragedy in the beginning of Golden Sun. For that Jenna/Isaac scene, I was inspired by this piece of Golden Sun fan art: (http:members.jcom.home.ne.jp/ykazoo2/79000.html). Vale-shipping! So sue me. But this doesn't mean this fic is pro-Valeshipping (even though I myself like it just as much as Mudshipping)._


End file.
